A ground breaking ceremony to kick off the $20 million renovation of the John Eliot K-8 Innovation Upper School building that, when completed by the fall of 2019, took place on the school property last week with a large group of residents, teachers and administrators.
Boston Mayor Martin J Walsh, public school officers, local elected officials and Principal Tracy Walker Griffith participated.
The school will feature state-of-the-art spaces designed to promote collaborative learning, as well as an art studio and robotics-engineering lab overlooking the harbor canal.
The Eliot Upper School, which serves 280 students in grades 3-8, is located in a former high-end furniture store and office building at 585 Commercial Street in the North End. Boston acquired the three-story building in 2013 to accommodate the expansion of the Eliot School, whose population has grown from 200 to more than 550 students over the past decade.
The two-year construction project – the final phase of an overall $43 million project for two Eliot school buildings  – will begin in early July. Starting in September, the Eliot Upper School’s students will be relocated to the newly renovated, former North Bennet Street School. The City invested $23 million in a comprehensive renovation that includes new classrooms, computer labs, a multi-purpose room, and media center all designed for 21st century learning. In addition  the project included construction of a new cafeteria, kitchen, mechanical systems, elevator, fire protection, and accessibility upgrades.
This project is part of Mayor Walsh’s $2.08 billion FY18-22 Capital Plan, which will make critical investments in the City’s infrastructure in every Boston neighborhood, guided by Imagine Boston 2030 and the schools, streets, arts, climate and resilience plans under its umbrella. Learn more about the City’s capital projects at  budget.boston.gov/capital-projects.
Officials will be joined by 40 fifth-grade students, who will performed the song “Hope,” a piece the students composed.